AL ASAD, Iraq–ScanEagle UAV sits on the catapult prior to launch. 16 April 2005, By Gunnery Sergeant Shannon Arledge of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing.
The Taliban captured a number of US-made Boeing Insitu ScanEagle drones after taking over Kunduz Airport in northeastern Afghanistan on August 11.
On August 12, the group shared photos showing at least one of the captured drones as well as other weapons which were left behind by government forces at Kunduz Airport. The other weapons included a T-62 battel tank and several MaxxPro MRAP [Mine Resistant Ambush Protected] vehicles.
#Taliban seized booty #Kunduz army base pic.twitter.com/BkrTQTsw6w
— C4H10FO2P (@markito0171) August 12, 2021
According to the Taliban’s claims, more than 500 military vehicles were seized at the airport. A Mi-35 attack helicopter was also captured by the group’s fighters.
The ScanEagle is a small, long-endurance, low-altitude drone that is equipped with a day\night optical system. The drone has a range of 100 km and an endurance of 24 hours. The drone was designed for reconnaissance, but it can be equipped for other tasks.
The US have supplied a number of ScanEagle systems to the Afghan National Army in the last few years as a part of a $174 million program. The program received much criticism as it failed to achieve its main goals.
The Taliban will not likely be able to operate the ScanEagle drones it seized at Kunduz Airport. Still, the seizure of the drones was a blow to the Kabul government and its allies in Washington.
The Taliban successes have created a big problem for them: they are accumulating too much captured equipment. A potential growth industry in the future Afghan economy may be self-storage facilities.
As the veteran Canadian reporter Hilary Brown reported from the deck of the USN Forrestal after the US fled in defeat from Vietnam, “this concludes another chapter in disgraceful and ignominious US history of lost wars”.
That stuff sells like hot cakes at arms bazaar.
Afghanistan is the crossroads of International arms smuggling…
They have no use for those drones, Talibs use asymmetrical warfare, they dont want or need high tech, but… The electronics and encryption keys in those drones in Chinese or other hands is worth a lot of AKs and RPGs…
These will end up with the Pakistan army and in Kashmir. There is already an uptick of resistance there.
Sadly, this stuff will probably end up in Syria in the hands of ISIS
Lots of materiel that can be use against neighbouring countries…
GoGo It will be used to monitor and keep Ahson Indian Dalit boy in check and make sure he does not misbehave
Most will end up in Kashmir for sure as the resistance there is picking up and getting very sophisticated as yesterday’s daylight ambush of Indian occupation forces amply demonstrated. New IEDs with copper plates perfected in Afghanistan and Iraq are showing up, loitering ammunition and drones are next.
The Taliban are not known for acting outside the borders of Afghanistan.
The Scan Eagle is “advanced”? Iran captured one intact in 2012 and used design elements to create its own Yasir, and that was 9 years ago!
Just tidying up before the final push to take Kabul. Ghani will be sneaking away soon. TEP.
In an positive development, Iranian intelligence has just organized a peaceful surrender of Northern Alliance chief Ismail Khan to save Herat, the main Iranian trading post , and save the city and civilians. Iranian intelligence has hundreds of agents embedded with the Taliban forces in western Afghanistan and that has led to peaceful resolution in Mazar e Sharif and now Herat. The same type of deal will soon take place in Kabul.
Just like as with ISIS in Iraq, the U.S. has trained extremists, armed them and will continue to provide VIP services to them. The Central Islamic Agency will still be conducting its dirty business from Afghan soil.
According to US Congressional GAO (Government Accounting Office) records, the US and its NATO vassals have spent over $23 billion in “training and support services” for the ANA since March 2002. What is astonishing is the obviously pathetically poor standard of “training” that the supposedly 300,000 ANA and Police trained by the west simply did not fight and melted away, faster than the ARVN, which I had expected and posted earlier. Kabul will also certainly fall without a fight as advance Taliban teams have already entered the city. The most humiliating US defeat of the 21st century has cast a severe embarrassment over the pathetic “quality” of western mercenary armed forces recruited from the dregs of drug infested decaying societies. In mere 75 years of neo-imperialist delusions since 1945, the Americans have proven to be the most cowardly, inept and absolutely incompetent military in human history.
This is the same way US supplied weapons to ISIS. “Accidentally”
Add another stock item on the famous Arms bazaars of Afghanistan…
US supply of these types of electronic weapons systems to Afghan army and police had problems. Many of the Afghan rank and file recruits cannot read or write – so can’t read basic technical manuals or leave written notes for colleagues. They can only communicate directly, either face to face or through radio/phone. Just think how much this would compromise training on any electronics based systems that have procedural checklists and manuals to operate. Seriously.